Chapter 148 Deep affections
How dared he!
He Danggui gritted her teeth. How dared he draw her into Dao Feng Pavilion of his mansion! Near the Dao Feng Pavilion, it was Zhiyuan Yard, and she and her daughter were drowned in the well in her previous life.
“Ten years, dead and living dim and draw apart. I don’t try to remember, but forgetting is hard. Lonely grave a thousand miles off, cold thoughts, where can I talk them out? Even if we met, you wouldn’t know me. Dust on my face, hair like frost.” He Danggui sneered secretly when she read the poetry in the picture. What a suitable poetry! Was Zhu Quan in the previous life missing Concubine He, who died a horrible death? Why did Zhu Quan in his boyhood inscribe the poetry that Su Dongpo mourned his deceased wife? What an ironic inscription! How could she be worthy of this inscription? Even in the previous life, she wasn’t his wife!
“Third Miss,” Mammy Tang looked at He Danggui, who became gloomy at that moment, and she continued to say, “Both of them left in a hurry. Childe Feng had no time to say good-bye to Jiugu, so she was sad and asked servants to inquire the details. But the servants told her that the two guests were sleeping in the same room in these ten days. When Jiugu came into their room, she found a package. She thought Childe Feng left it for her at first. But when she opened it, she found that there was your portrait and the letter was signed ‘Ning Yuan’. On the letter, he wrote that the jade pendant was given to you. You see, it’s the jade pendant in the envelope...” Mammy Tang gave the jade pendant with Azure Dragon to He Danggui and said, “Madam Luo observed it for several times, and she suspects that the jade pendant is... from Imperial Family.”
He Danggui carefully looked at the jade pendant, and suddenly she found it belonged to Princess Xie in the previous life. She had heard from Concubine Gu, who said enviously that it was the bride-price when Zhu Quan married Xie Qiaofeng. When she was in the Mansion, Xie Qiaofeng often flaunted it. Was Zhu Quan silly? He had always been a thorough man and never let anyone find his mistakes. How could he give the jade pendant to his foe who could expose his identity?
“Third Miss, have a careful look. Does it belong to Child Ning?” Before Mammy Tang gave the jade pendant to He Danggui, she told her seriously, “Be careful. It’s precious. You should hold it by your two hands.”
He Danggui was unwilling to take it, so she shook her head and said, “I’ve only met him once. At that time, you were hit by the itching powder and asked me to send visitors out. I just had few words with Child Feng, and then they left. I have no idea with Child Ning and his things. Since the jade pendant is so precious, I dare not to take it. I always feel a tremor in my hands in the morning when I get up.”
“Didn’t you really... meet each other in private? Didn’t Child Ning tell you... he loves you?” Mammy Tang looked at He Danggui with suspicions. Although He Danggui’s expression was as usual, Mammy Tang also felt that the feeling in her eyes was different as usual, which was colder than before. Mammy Tang pointed at the picture in the desk and continued to ask, “Why did he draw you into his picture? Look! The expression, the eyes, and the smile. This portrait is a very true likeness of you. Second Madam always invited famous painters to draw portraits for Second Miss and others, but none of them can draw a picture like this one. If he doesn’t like you, why all the strokes are full of deep affections and all the words are full of yearnings?”
He Danggui was doubled over in laughter. She wiped her tears because of laughing and said, “Mammy is also a litterateur who has a quick intellect. If you take part in the imperial examination, probably, you’ll be the Second Place at Palace Examinations... I don’t understand painting and I can’t read, so I don’t know what he wanted to pour out in the picture. I’ve heard from Child Feng that Child Ning has a sister who looks like me, but she died when she was young. Maybe the person in the picture is his sister.”
“Sister?!” Mammy Tang and Jiugu looked at each other. Then Jiugu thought for a while and nodded. She said, “It is possible. The Jangchenzi was written for mourning the dead. If Child Ning really loves Third Miss, he shouldn’t give her this poetry. But if he is sorrowful when he sees Third Miss that she looks like his dead sister, it will be absolutely possible that he drew the picture, inscribed the poetry and gave Third Miss the jade pendant.”
Mammy Tang nodded favorably, but another distressing thing came into her mind. She said, “This is an unusual jade pendant, and it seems not belong to the common people. How can we deal with it? Third Miss, what do you think?”
“I don’t know.” He Danggui said briefly.
Mammy Tang and Jiugu kept silent for a while, and then, Jiugu told Mammy Tang, “Whether he loves Third Miss or regards Third Miss as his dead sister, this jade pendant is given to her. Since Madam Luo also doesn’t know how to handle it, I think Third Miss should take care of the jade pendant. If one day, Yang or Child Feng come back, we can ask the reason and then decide whether we return it or accept it. What do you think?”
With some hesitation, Mammy Tang took jade pendant back into the casket and put the casket into He Danggui’s hands solemnly. She said, “Take good care of it. Never chip it and lost it. I’ll choose a dark steel box, which is several hundred jin. This box is specially for you to store up the jade pendant. Third Miss, you must take good care of it!” Mammy Tang exhorted and found that Third Miss was so weak, as if she couldn’t grasp the casket. Mammy Tang remembered that Third Miss said she always felt a tremor in her hands in the morning when she got up. Mammy Tang was so scared and wrested the casket. She put it under the pillow in the inner room’s embroidered bed. After that, Mammy Tang exhorted seriously and went away with Jiugu worriedly.
When they left, Chan Yi jumped in from the door. She took out an apple from her apron and bit it. Then she asked, “What do you want to eat for breakfast? Mammy Tang gave us a lot of foods and clothes. The foods are more than last time that arranged in the mourning hall for you, and the whole storage room in the kitchen are stuffed. There are many things that I’ve ever seen. I saw a light red fruit. When I asked Xiang Chunya, she told me it was Litchi, which was Noble Consort Yang’s favorite. She told me this fruit are very perishable and should be frozen. The earlier we eat, the more delicious it is. I’ll peel it for you!”
“I don’t like it. You can eat them. I am a little sleepy and want to have a rest. You arrange these things and choose two smart maids to help you manage the kitchen from the twelve maids in the yard. Mammy Tang will ask servants to give me the iron box. You ask them to put it in the gate. Don’t let them knock the door. If someone from Liu Li Tang asks me to go there with Zhu, you let Bo He and Dou Jiang hold him to see them, and come back when it’s getting dark. No matter who asks you, you just tell them I have eaten something wrong. OK, that’s all. You can leave now.”
When she finished, she pushed Chan Yi out of the door. Then she bolted the door and found a nail to fasten the door. After confirming everything was fine, she heard that Chan Yi murmured, “Did she have a stomachache because of the sweet noodle?” Then Chan Yi left. He Danggui relieved and escaped to her inner room. She put down the door curtain, run to the bed and put down the bed curtain.
She overestimated herself.
After a night of buffering, she thought it was better, but that didn’t work!
Did she drink too much Distilled Osmanthus Drink? There was a ball of cold air in her stomach, permeating to her body.
She trembled and held her underbelly into the quilt. No, she couldn’t see anyone, just let herself alone.
She thought it was a fortune in the morning. She thought Mammy Tang came here with a lot of things for compensating her, for commending her filial affection. But they suspected that a prince loved her. All her plans and performances couldn’t compare with his picture. Of course, his status was higher than her, and she could only look up to him.
She thought she loved him in the previous life. When she waked up in this life, she thought she hated him. Now, he was coming, and she had already known that she was afraid of him. All her abilities and means were taught by him. When she faced with Dong Xinlan and Luo Baishao in Luo’s Mansion, she felt it just like an adult played with children. But now the master who was good at scheming was coming, she felt that she could never transcend him. When she heard that he left the Luo’s Mansion, she pretended not to be resented on the surface, but she rejoiced of it. She would never confront with such a horrible man, but why did he give her his poison? Would he come back to find her again?
Was it possible? When she lived in a peaceful life in Tao Yao Yard, one day, a glib-tongued matchmaker sent by him would come suddenly, just like the previous life. She would take her away in the name of Lord Ning.
Would she meet Zhou Jinglan and Xie Qiaofeng again? Would she come back to the place where she and her daughter died? Would she have to re-experience the real old dream?
Why did she meet him again? She was so regret! If she knew, she would hide herself. Never let he see; never let he be curious; never let he pursuit her; never let her be his prey... How terrible! She had been his prey now. She knew all his temper and means. If he liked something, no matter it would spend ten years or twenty years, he would try his best to get it. Even it would die, he would get it... Until she died in the previous life, he still stared at the Emperor’s chair. He and the previous emperor who faked his own death still coped with the new emperor together...
“Tut-tut, why are you still sleeping? Lazy girl.” The voice out of the quilt sounded again, “Get up, quickly. I want to tell you something.”
Her body suddenly felt cold, and here came a light in her eyes. Her protective cover had gone! How terrible! She must have been found! He had excellent martial arts, and maybe he would suddenly come just like Little Master. He would catch her and lock her up. She must have been painful!
“What’s wrong with you? Are you getting sick? Why are you trembling in the daytime?” The cold fingers touched her forehead. He said, “Oh, you have a fever! Do you feel not well? Do you want to see doctors?” The voice became closer, and she could feel his breath. He said, “Are you still crying? What a dangerous situation yesterday, but you didn’t cry. I think you are a queen. I have not expected that you will cry when you get sick.” He held her weak body and put her body into sitting. Then he said, “I know a kung fu that can cure people. Let me help you. As for exchange, you cannot tell anyone about this kung fu.”
He put his warm palms on her back, holding a formula constantly. Her back gradually felt warm and then scalding. This feeling transmitted from her back to her chest and then transmitted all over her body, dispelling the coldness.
It was no use to cure her. She was watched by a devil. She would die soon. How could she fight against with the devil, the most horrible and the most merciless devil? Would she do everything to please him? How terrible! He had already known that Chan Yi was her weakness. If he did a thorough investigation, he would know that she also had her own mother. If she wasn’t obedient to him, would he catch them and threaten her?
“Girl. Gather your mind together. Observe your Dantian. Your mind was so messy. My Zhenqi is broken up.”
“...”
A moment later, the warm hands withdrew. Her weak body was put in the bed, and her quilt was coming back again. She heard that he fell to the ground and stepped away. Then the cupboard was opened, with some rustle, and the footstep sounded close.
She suddenly felt there was something pressing on her body, and then her body turned warmer.
“There are a lot of pillows and quilts in the cupboard. Why don’t use them? Look! How wonderful! The bed is full of the pillows and quilts. Much crowded than before. When I came in your room, I thought there was no one in the room. You are still fine in the morning when we separated. How can you become no hope again that we have just separated for four hours? No, much worse than yesterday. It seems that your whole body is written ‘let me disappear’, ‘I shouldn’t come into the world’.” He said with ridicule and joy, “Who bullied you? Little chili girl? Why don’t deal with him just like yesterday that you handled with me?
He Danggui threw a pillow to him.
“How lucky! I get it. You threw it too slantingly. It almost drops to the ground and gets dirty.”
“... It’s just noon. You said you would come in the night.” When she opened her mouth, she recognized that she still retained her voice.
“Sorry, I won’t come this night.” The voice was far away. Then, the voice of dragging a stool and eating melon seeds sounded. He said, “I can’t stay here for a long time. My father is waiting for me in the main hall. I’ll say briefly and then I’ll go.”
He left too. So fast. He was also a passerby. She thought the special boy was a light of rescuing and shined her further road. But she never expected that it was the end of the road.
The voice of eating melon seeds continued about 5 minutes. He said, “Wow, what a special taste the melon seeds are. It is just like the assorted melon seeds dish that I ate in Yu Xuan Fang in the capital. The fragrant water you gave me in the morning is also delicious. I was going to have a midnight snack in there,” Crunch. Puff. He said, “However, I went to see Madam Luo in the morning and told her that I wanted to study in Chengxu Academy, but she just asked me to often come here. She never invited me to stay here. I implied her for several times, but she couldn’t understand. So, the plan failed.”
Didn’t ask him to stay? How strange that was! It wasn’t like Madam Luo. First, Madam Luo enjoyed crowds and liked to see many youths in home. Second, she was very enthusiastic when she saw the Childe who was young and promising but didn’t have engagement. So, why didn’t she ask Meng Xuan to stay in Luo’s Mansion?
Both the smart Meng Xuan and He Danggui didn’t guess Madam Luo’s idea. Madam Luo was not unwilling to ask the honored guest to stay, but she never regarded “the honored guest that she hardly met” as “the long-term guest in Luo’s Mansion”. She never expected that, so she couldn’t understand Meng Xuan’s implication and just invited him to come to Luo’s Mansion frequently.
“And then, my father came looking for me. I told him that I wanted to study in Chengxu Academy. He agreed strongly and would choose a house, some reading attendants and servants for me, so I have to leave today. I will come in the night after my father leaves. I just took 10% of your Zhenqi, and the rest of them is still in your body. Girl, these days you must not be perplexed, nervous and depressed, or else you will be dangerous. So, you can accumulate it and tell me when I come to see you next time.”
“... OK.” She felt this kind of persuasion that she ever heard was extremely moving.
“Crunch.” The voice of eating melon seeds mingled with his gentle words. Although she hid in the warm dark environment that covered by the thick quilt, she could still feel his bright eyes and warm smile. He said, “So... That’s all. My father is talking with your relatives. If he is going to get fidgety and show his true colors, it won’t be good, because I will visit your home by his name. Can you lend me a handkerchief? My handkerchief wiped your nosebleed yesterday.”
“You can find it in the drawer.”
“I can’t find it. There are only socks. They seem new. Have you worn them?”
“I don’t know.”
“... Looks new. Lend me one. Thank you!”
“... What are you doing?”
“Of course, take the melon seeds away. You get ill and must have no appetite to eat the melon seeds. It won’t be delicious if you set it aside for a very long time. I help you deal with it. Don’t feel grateful for this.”
“...”
“Bye, see you again!”
The window opened and then closed. The smart and mysterious boy just like herself came and left with her unmentionable disease unconsciously. It was because he said that if she was perplexed, her Zhenqi would lose control. He said that she could accumulate all the sadness and told him when she saw him again.
So, see you later, Little Master.
※※※
“Get up, get up!” Chan Yi forced her to get up and said, “It’s the first day that you go to school. Will you want to be late? You are sleeping for two or three days. Are you still sleepy?”
He Danggui was confused and looked at the sky. She asked, “Why is it so dark outside? What time is it?”
“It’s about midnight or 3 a.m. The watchman just reported the time, but I didn’t mention.” Chan Yi helped her wear clothes skillfully and continued to complain, “It’s fine that you never fold up a quilt, but now, you sleep with four quilts. Don’t you know that I should pay half an hour to fold them?”
He Danggui was shocked and said, “3 a.m.?! It’s just 3 a.m. that you call me to get up?” No wonder she felt that she just climbed to bed and then Chan Yi forced her to get up!
Chan Yi didn’t feel it was wrong. She exhorted her Miss, “I’ve heard that people who study in school should eat lunch outside. You are such a fussy eater, so I prepare a home-made lunchbox. There are a lot of dishes, such as sesame seed cake with pig’s-head meat, four colors steamed twisted roll with chicken and a delicious big drumstick. Your classmates will be goggle-eyed at the lavish foods. You must finish them by yourself and can’t give others. I cooked it by a whole night.”
He Danggui just wanted to say something, but she was dragged by Huai Hua to the dressing table where Huai Hua set a lot face powders and headdresses in order.
Huai Hua smiled and said, “Mammy Tang came yesterday. She suggested me specially. It doesn’t matter to you if you are illiterate and don’t listen to the teacher in class, but you must be beautiful. I’ve heard that all the Misses who come to school must try their best to beautify themselves. Because there is a grand competition by choosing the most beautiful Miss in Women Institute. Don’t worry. I will try my best to help you win the prize and become “the most beautiful Miss” in this year!”
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